bocuse d'or

I just finished reading Andrew Friedman's food geeky book, Knives at Dawn, which chronicles last year's bid by an American team—led by Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller—to win the international Bocuse D'Or cooking competition. Never heard of it? Though Americans seem to have an endless appetite for cooking competitions (witness the success of Top Chef and Iron Chef), this one has largely flown under the radar, though it has a long and storied history and a distinguished pedigree, having been founded by none other than legendary French chef Paul Bocuse.